Proposal by Lightfoot aims at city speeders

Wants cars going 6 mph over the limit to be ticketed

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who campaigned on a pledge to end Chicago’s “addiction” to fines and fees, is counting on a big increase in city collections from speeding tickets and other violations to balance her 2021 budget.

Andshewants part of the boost to the bottom line to come from speed cameras across Chicago issuing speeding tickets to drivers caught going as little as 6 miles per hour over the posted limit.

Under the mayor’s proposal, as part of her 2021 budget package, anyone caught by a camera driving from 6 to 9 mph above the limit would get a warning. Getting caught on camera a second time would prompt a $35 ticket in the mail.

Currently, only those caught driving 10 mph above the limit get the $35 tickets. Tickets of $100 are issued to drivers caught speeding by 11mphor more above the posted limit. The city has the authority to issue the tickets at lower speeds, but has never used it. Mari Castaldi, director of policy and advocacy at the Chicago Jobs Council, which has helped push fines and fees reform, blasted Lightfoot’s proposal.

“Mayor Lightfoot has repeatedly cited the urgent need for our city to break what she has called its ‘addiction’ to relying on revenue from regressive fines and fees, and stop balancing the budget on the backs of thosewhocan least afford it. This proposal does the opposite,” she said.

“This proposal is likely to send economically struggling Chicagoans further into debt while offering questionable benefits to public safety.”

According to budget documents released this week as the mayor unveiled her spending proposal for next year, the city expects to bring in $381.5 million in 2021 from fines, forfeitures and penalties. That’s about $38 million more than Lightfoot’s administration projected for 2020.

This year’s actual take from fines, forfeitures and penalties is likely to come in around $230 million, according to budget documents. The $110 million short fall compared with earlier city projections is due to lower ticket revenue because of the pandemic, according to Budget Office spokeswoman Kristen Cabanban.

That’s in spite of the fact the city issued more than 35,000 parking tickets during a period this year when Lightfoot told the public they’d be getting a break on ticket enforcement because of the COVID-19 outbreak, as theTribune has reported.

The big hike in 2021 will come thanks to speed enforcement and the city ticketing more for “safety-related issues” such as cars double parking and blocking loading zones, along with better collection of outstanding fines, Cabanban said

Lightfoot campaigned against the city’s system of fines and fees, frequently criticizing the city for balancing its budget on the backs of taxpayers using regressive penalties on tickets.